Spurs' Wednesday night massacre exposed a vital Timberwolves flaw

The Timberwolves were completely outclassed in their second meeting with the Spurs in the Western Conference Semifinals. San Antonio played with the urgency necessary to recover after dropping the first game of the series. In the process, Minnesota's poor offense was put on display for the masses to see, exposing how grossly overmatched they truly are.

This series will be over in five games because now that the players have displayed such a high level of basketball, Mitch Johnson is going to demand it every game—and they can bring it. Chris Finch's offense isn't complicated. While it may not be as straightforward as Portland's, it's not like they're running a Golden State Warriors-style scheme.

The Spurs have the strength, speed, and discipline to take away what Minnesota wants to do and force them to play a style they're not comfortable with. The Wolves won't be able to counter it.

The Timberwolves can expect more of the same in Game 3

Don't let the Minny propaganda get to you, Spurs Nation. If you've listened to sports talk or riffed with Wolves fans this morning, you've heard them claim that Anthony Edwards and company have a habit of bringing low energy to games they don't feel like are important. Apparently, making sure you stomp out an opponent's hopes to win in the playoffs isn't important, but who am I to judge?

When their third matchup tips off, San Antonio is going to continue to swarm Ant-Man and crowd Julius Randle on the low block. The Timberwolves have a bunch of guys who are good at getting their own shot in one-on-one scenarios. The Silver and Black let them do a little too much of that in their 104-102 loss on Monday night and corrected it in the next game.

Edwards is a good passer, but he's not going to pick you apart with that part of his toolkit. The same is true for Randle. If you can keep Ant's scoring down, your chances skyrocket. Everyone else on that team is an inconsistent scorer. So, coming into the series, the question people should have been asking is, how are the Timberwolves going to put up points consistently against this defense?

Spoiler alert: They're not. The Spurs aren't the Denver Nuggets. Minny doesn't have an athletic advantage; their guys aren't overwhelmingly stronger, and they can't impose their will by playing with more energy than their opponent can muster. San Antonio can match or exceed them in every area that won them their first-round series.

On the flip side, they can't contain the Spurs in the same way. Victor Wembanyama's size makes that tremendously difficult, and combining that with an irrefutable need to stop the penetration from the guards (something they also can't do) makes it impossible. The monster has woken up, and the rest of the series is once again just a formality. Game 3 will make it all set in for the non-believers.

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